In My Beautiful City Austin David Heymann crafts seven masterful tales of a young architect who fails again and again to dissuade his clients from their bad decisions. So the houses he designs aid and abet the ongoing erasure of Austin's ambrosial charm. Each of these sharp and humorous stories centers around the design of a house, and in each the narrator struggles to understand why his clients want what they want -- a retiring couple needing an immense home in the middle of nature, a young family wanting a castle, a lawyer seeking to piss off his ex-wife -- and why they might want those things here. Collectively the stories serve as a portrait of a beloved place gone strangely wrong. Fueled by the dubious intentions of its inhabitants, Austin is a town growing madly while ignoring the pain of a thousand small cuts. But the book is equally about a young person trying to take fraught first steps into a career, and a place in the world. Architects aren't inherently powerful. They can only affect the world because they work at the center of a web of others whose value decisions -- strange and yet real -- actually drive change.Because the humor in the stories arises from the narrator's inability to alter absurd circumstances, the stories are immediately accessible to a broad readership, including adults of all ages, readers interested in Austin (a source of fascination as one of the most desirable cities in America), those interested in Texas and Texas literature, and readers interested in architecture and design.

Gluten-free, dairy-free, and grain-free recipes that sound and look way too delicious to be healthy from The Defined Dish blog, fully endorsed by Whole30.

Koko's Guide To Austin is a pocket-sized travel guidebook to eating and drinking your way through Austin, TX with Austin's top food blogger, A Taste of Koko. In Koko's Guide To Austin, you will find: - Insider's guide to Austin, Texas by a local Austin blogger - 330+ local restaurants and businesses - 190+ beautiful, full-color photographs - 3 hand-drawn illustrated maps of Austin - In-depth restaurant guide that breaks down the best spots for breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, date night, tacos, margaritas, Tex-Mex, and more - Neighborhood guides featuring the popular neighborhoods of Austin with the best spots for coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner, shops and more - Calendar listing of iconic events like Austin City Limits (ACL), South by Southwest (SXSW) - Weekend getaways from Austin - Austin bucket list that you can check off! This is the ultimate guide to Austin, Texas for both locals and visitors.

We live in angry times. No matter where we go, what we watch, or how we communicate, our culture is rife with division and polarization. Unfortunately, Christians appear to be caught up in the same animosity as the culture at large. While our faith calls us to Christian unity, the hard fact remains: our churches are tragically divided across class, ethnic, gender, and political lines. As these social chasms grow--both inside and outside the church--the role of the preacher becomes paramount. This book issues a prophetic call to pastors to use the influence of their pulpits to promote reconciliation and unity in their churches and communities. Two scholar-practitioners who are experts in homiletics and reconciliation present a practical, 7-step model that empowers faithful leaders to bring healing and peace to their fractured churches and world. The book includes questions for reflection, salient illustrations, and an accountability covenant. It also includes useful appendixes on preaching themes, preaching texts, and sample sermons from three leading preachers: Ralph Douglas West, Rich Villodas, and Sandra Maria Van Opstal.

My First Book of Japanese Words is a beautifully illustrated book that introduces young children to Japanese language and culture through everyday words. The words profiled in this book are all commonly used in the Japanese language and are both informative and fun for English-speaking children to learn. The goals of My First Book of Japanese Words are multiple: to familiarize children with the sounds and structure of Japanese speech, to introduce core elements of Japanese culture, to illustrate the ways in which languages differ in their treatment of everyday sounds and to show how, through cultural importation, a single word can be shared between languages. Both teachers and parents will welcome the book's cultural and linguistic notes and appreciate how the book is organized in a familiar ABC structure. Each word is presented in Kanji (when applicable), Kana, and Romanized form (Romaji). With the help of this book, we hope more children (and adults) will soon be a part of the 125 million people worldwide that speak Japanese!

Red Wassenich's, who coined of the phrase Keep Austin Weird, entertaining text and over 180 color photos show the colorful places, people, and doings in Austin, Texas' capital city. Tour the Cathedral of Junk built with over 700 bicycles. Meet Leslie, the cross-dressing perennial mayoral candidate. Party at the Spamarama, Austin's premier weird cook-off. Keep your eyes peeled for the cruising art cars. For the adventurous, there is no better guide to Austin!